The Bonds We Share
by KyasarinJakkusan
Summary: A slice-of-life series depicting Kamegai Reina's past before the Digital World
1. The First Time We Met

The little girl shifted from one foot to the other, short black hair swishing about behind her, as her father knocked on the door of their new neighbors. He had said that the lady who'd just moved in had a son about her age, and he thought it'd be a good idea for him to have at least one friend in a place so new to him. She had agreed, albeit reluctantly, and now the little four-year-old was wondering if it was a good idea. Finally the door opened, and she immediately stilled.

"Hello!" her father said as the lady's face came into view. The girl thought that she was pretty; she had dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and blue eyes. "My name's Kamegai Hajime, and this is my daughter Reina. I noticed you moving in yesterday and we just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."

The lady smiled. "Well thank you. I'm Kimura Tomoko. Kouichi!" She turned her head back into the house. "The neighbors are here, why don't you come say hi?" She turned back to the girl and her father. "My son's always been a bit shy. Do come in, won't you?"

"Of course." The man took his daughter's hand. "Come on, Reina." They followed Tomoko inside, and Reina immediately let go of her father's hand once she caught sight of the sitting room, which was one of the only rooms that even looked fully set up. She slipped away to investigate as her father and Tomoko began talking again. It was a very warm room, with a lot of bright colors, and she immediately liked it. But soon her attention was drawn away from the colors and to a noise at the door. She found herself looking into a pair of sparkling dark blue eyes, framed by a fringe of midnight hair, peering around the doorway. They belonged to a boy, and his curiosity seemed to overcome his apparent shyness as he came out of hiding and approached her.

"Hi," he said quietly.

"Hi," she repeated, then smiled. It seemed to put him at ease. "My name's Reina."

"Kouichi." The boy spoke with more confidence now. "You're our neighbor?"

"Yeah. It's just me and Papa. I never knew Mama. Papa says she's in heaven."

Kouichi nodded in understanding. "It's just me and my mama here," he admitted. "I don't know where Papa is."

"No siblings?" She frowned as he shook his head. Then she brightened as an idea suddenly came to her. "Then I'll be your sibling!"

His blue eyes quickly met her silver ones. "R-really?"

She enthusiastically nodded her head. "Yeah! I don't have any siblings either, so it makes sense. And we live right next door, so we can see each other whenever we want. It'll be fun!"

"Okay!" He took her hand. "Wanna come help me set up my room?"

"Sure!" She held on tightly as they raced up the stairs, already forming a tight bond. Tomoko smiled as the little blurs rushed past. Maybe this little girl would be good for her son.

* * *

Reina walked over as Kouichi again sighed in frustration. "Need help?" she asked as he fumbled with the sheets that were supposed to be going onto his bed, but instead were still in a heap on the floor. He pouted, but nodded. Together they struggled but managed to finally fix the sheets to where they looked right.

"Thanks," he said as they stepped away from the blue and gray sheets. "I hate trying to do that by myself. Someday I'll be able to, though!" His eyes had a determined light to them that made her smile.

"I believe you. But Papa taught me how to do that so I thought I'd make it easier on you this time."

"Well, thanks." He smiled too. "Let's get the rest of it out now!"

Kouichi didn't have much in the way of toys, Reina noticed, silently deciding she'd have to amend that someday. What he did have a lot of was art supplies. "You like painting?" she asked.

"Yep! Only time I can get away with making a mess!" They laughed.

"That's something we should do a lot of together then," she said. "I like painting too!"

"Awesome!"

After what felt like forever everything was finally where it should be. Both grinned as they clambered onto the bed for what they felt was a much-deserved rest. "We should have lots of sleepovers," she said after a moment.

"Yeah," he agreed. "And we'll play lots of games and stay up all night and pretend to be asleep when Mama comes in to check on us so we can get away with it." Both giggled. "It's gonna be fun being your brother, Reina."

"Same about being your sister, Kouichi." It grew silent between the two children, but neither minded as they cuddled close together.

Tomoko and Hajime walked in not half an hour later to find their children sound asleep in each other's arms, looking more content than either of them had in all their lives.

* * *

**Yes, I have officially re-entered the Digimon fandom over here. It was my freaking childhood. Am I kicked out yet for this story? XD**

**But in all seriousness, this is actually a fairly new idea. My character, Reina, has gone through lots and lots of character development (and even a name change) since I created her when I was... 11 maybe? Yeah, we'll go with that. So she's a bit different from most of my other characters. I don't usually give characters such extensive back stories with canon characters, but Kouichi is just so cute and he's my favorite character ever and it was a perfect idea. Because I imagine that Kouichi and Kouji were separated when they were about 1 or 2 years old, and Tomoko would probably move around some before finally settling down, and I thought what if they moved in beside the Kamegai household and- You get the point. And if the friendship seems like it's a little too instant... I figured, well, they're children, they're all sweet and innocent and alone and they really do need each other. And they do have kind of similar situations. But don't worry, Reina doesn't have any surprise siblings we don't know about. I couldn't rip off the twins like that. They're too precious.**

**Digimon ****© Toei Animation (totally innocuous disclaimer... *shifty eyes* *whistle*)**


	2. Our First Fight

"Hey."

Reina frowned as an arm stretched out in front of her to block her path through the hallway. She turned to face the person it belonged to, a boy one year her senior with an ugly sneer on his face. She could practically feel Kouichi tense up beside her, and she reached her hand back to let him take it as he drew protectively closer.

"I don't have time for you today." The third grader didn't bother addressing the older boy by his name - she purposely never remembered it anyway. He'd been bugging her for weeks. "What do you want?"

"For you to keep your pretty little head down and show some respect!" The boy spoke with an ugly tone to match his ugly face. "Girls should know better than to take that kind of tone with a guy, especially-" He was cut off abruptly when a fist connected with his face, and it wasn't Reina's. Kouichi's dark blue eyes glared as the older boy went sprawling to the floor with a shout, having been caught by surprise. The rest of the students in the hall gathered around, excited by the turn of events.

"Don't take that tone with her!" Kouichi's tone was dangerously level. Reina gaped back at him - she'd never seen him this angry before. And then she realized that this was the first time he'd seen the bully come after her, and that must've set him off. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the boy getting back up. She stepped back to Kouichi's side; no _way_ was he going this alone. The boy took a swing, missed Kouichi and hit her shoulder. She bit back a cry and instead kicked his stomach as Kouichi made another well-placed blow to the head. He was down again, but not before clipping Kouichi on the cheek. The midnight-haired boy was less successful in keeping quiet and let out a low cry of pain.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Before the other boy could get back up again the teacher suddenly burst through the crowd. The boy froze while Reina and Kouichi stepped back to each other's sides and held hands again, her shoulder steadily blackening (she'd worn a sleeveless top that day) and his cheekbone also turning dark. The teacher took one look at them and made her decision.

"Principal's office. All three of you. The rest of you, off to class. Now!"

* * *

The eight-year-olds sat quietly on the bench outside the office while who knew what was going on with the fourth grader inside the room.

"Do you think she'll call Mama and Papa?" Reina asked softly.

Kouichi shrugged. "Probably."

"Kouichi-kun, I... I'm sorry you got dragged into this," she mumbled, looking down at her hands which were folded into her lap. "You don't deserve to be in this much trouble."

"Hey," he said, taking one of her hands in one of his and using the other to turn her face to him. "It's okay. Anything's worth it to protect you, Reina-chan." Her eyes were drawn to the dark purple blotch on his cheek, and she gingerly reached her free hand up to lightly brush it with her fingers before leaning over and gently kissing it. They pulled each other close (Kouichi remaining mindful of her bruised shoulder) and they both stayed that way until the principal came out to release the verdict. They'd gotten off easier than most - both had a week's worth of after-school detentions - because they'd had spotless records before then. Reina seemed more relieved than Kouichi at the news.

When the two of them got home they received a stern lecture about fighting in school from Tomoko - but she secretly was proud of the fact that they had gone to each other's defense so quickly.

* * *

**Since the two reviews I've gotten so far are pretty positive, I've given up on my original plan to make this chronological and I'm just posting what I have when I have it. Things will probably end up jumping around a lot from this point, and hopefully this doesn't upset people too much.**

**Sorry for the length (or lack-thereof). I hate writing violent scenes, I will get that out there right now. This took a while for me to actually get down to where it was at least semi-believable because I wanted to water it down so much it's not even funny. As it is, it may still be pretty badly watered down. It may seem a little OOC, but I honestly think that with the type of close relationship Kouichi and Reina have, he wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it takes to protect her, even if it gets him in trouble. Because they've grown up with each other. They innately trust each other with nearly everything. They understand each other on a level no one else can even begin to comprehend. And one doesn't really care much about personal consequences when it comes to the other. Personally, I find it adorable. But that might be bias since a) Reina is my character, and b) Kouichi is my favorite fictional character of all time.**

**Whatever. Hope you enjoyed this!**


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